


Ambivalence

by mugen



Category: Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends
Genre: Case Fic, M/M, Pre-Canon, Pre-Slash, Teamwork, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-21 17:24:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17047424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mugen/pseuds/mugen
Summary: On the list of people Shuuichi wants to see right after he finishes his last end-of-term exam, Matoba Seiji is at the very bottom of, probably right above “a random youkai showing up to curse his schoolmates”. He has heard his classmates and the girls from other classes gossipping that a boy from another school is waiting at the gates—a not too common occurrence—but Shuuichi has hoped it has nothing to do with him. At least Seiji is there on official exorcist business.





	Ambivalence

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lady_peony](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lady_peony/gifts).



> This was my first time writing this ship, I hope I did them justice, and I hope you'll like this! ♥

On the list of people Shuuichi wants to see right after he finishes his last end-of-term exam, Matoba Seiji is at the very bottom of, probably right above “a random youkai showing up to curse his schoolmates”. He has heard his classmates and the girls from other classes gossipping that a boy from another school is waiting at the gates—a not too common occurrence—but Shuuichi has hoped it has nothing to do with him.

They haven’t seen each other much since the new school year started: Seiji seems to be too busy with Matoba clan affairs, and whenever Shuuichi attends the exorcist meetings in hope for catching useful gossip and scoring a job Seiji is never there, except for the one time he has snuck in, disguised as a shiki. That was probably the last time they spoke to each other.

But on the last school day before the summer vacation, Matoba Seiji is at Shuuichi’s school, waiting for him at the gates.

“Shuuichi-san,” he greets him as he pushes himself off the wall.

Shuuichi doesn’t like the way Seiji is smiling at him, not even a little bit. “What do you want?”

Seiji pulls out an envelope out of the pocket of his gakuran and waves it at him.  _ Official business then. _

“Come with me,” Shuuichi says, cutting off Seiji before he could have said something that might be easily misinterpreted. He turns around and leads Seiji to a nearby park—an unpopular spot, perfect for not getting overheard by any wandering schoolmate.

“Have you heard of Amenomori Middle School, Shuuichi-san?” Seiji asks when he sits down on the park bench right next to Shuuichi, way closer than necessary. Their thighs are almost touching, but Shuuichi doesn’t scoot away, it would be suspicious, and riling him up is something Seiji finds amusing.

“The school that got closed in the seventies, a town over?” Shuuichi asks instead.

“The very same. It has become a pretty popular spot for test of courages in the past month, but lately everyone has been coming back fatigued, with minor injuries and slight gaps in their memory. The rumors say it’s a real haunting spot, which makes it even more popular.”

“A youkai.”

Seiji nods. The gesture causes a stray curl to escape his ponytail—that’s a new development, his hair is getting long—and to fall into his eyes. Instead of brushing it away, Seiji shakes his head a little. Shuuichi snorts at the failed attempt. There’s something in his action and the mundanity of sitting in a park near Shuuichi’s school that makes Seiji seem  _ human, _ so unlike his usual self. Shuuichi has seen some glimpses of other sides of Matoba Seiji that are not the exorcist clan heir or the genius exorcist with tremendous amount of spiritual power, or even the bored high school student who likes to mess with people. 

Shuuichi opens the letter and skims through its content, but it’s just explaining the same thing Seiji told him, and asks his help in assisting Seiji.

Shuuichi frowns. “We’ve been hired to exorcise a youkai. Together.”

“Yes, Shuuichi-san.” Seiji sounds amused.

“Why?”

“Two students sneaking into an abandoned school is unsuspicious, unlike full-time exorcists.”

Shuuichi shakes his head. “No, I mean, why me, too? Don’t tell me  _ you _ need  _ my _ help?” 

Seiji smiles, and Shuuichi hates it, it’s that exact smile that never fails to piss him off in five seconds flat. Today is hardly an exception.

“Two high school students are less suspicious than one.”

It’s a flimsy excuse, he must have been bored. While working with Seiji is a pain, Shuuichi needs the job, he is in no position to refuse. He sighs in defeat.

“When do you want to do it?”

“Tonight, if possible.”

Shuuichi is exhausted from a week of exams, but there were some concerning things about the youkai’s victims in the report; the sooner they deal with it the better. He can make an excuse at home, somehow, he’ll figure it out.

“Sure.”

  
  


They meet up at 10 PM; it’s already pitch dark outside. The weather is slightly chilly for the T-shirt and shorts Shuuichi is wearing, but he doesn’t care much. Seiji is still in his uniform.

The school building is in a better condition than Shuuichi has initially thought, but it still looks somewhat unsafe. It’s bigger than he thought with its two floors and two wings. When they step inside, a shiver runs down Shuuichi’s spine.  _ There’s definitely a youkai in there. _

Seiji has brought his bow, but Shuuichi is only armed with a bunch of paper spells and blank paper. Together they draw up an exorcism circle in the hall, in front of the lockers. Seiji works quietly but efficiently, not a movement wasted. Shuuichi catches himself staring.

It’s eerily quiet, the only the sound of the chalk on the tiles.

“I’ll send a few paper shiki to scout for us,” Shuuichi offers. It’s a technique he’s been practicing for months, he finally feels secure enough to use in front of others. Seiji watches him curiously—Shuuichi can’t blame him, exorcists who mastered the art of paper shiki are rare nowadays.

His first attempt is successful, but Seiji doesn’t comment on it, not that Shuuichi expects him to. They set out to the left wing first, but don’t find anything. They’re about to turn back to check the right wing when one of the paper dolls appear. It’s slightly torn on the side, but otherwise it’s in one piece.

It falls down on Shuuichi’s palm. “There’s something in the right wing, second floor.” Now that they have found the youkai, they only need to lure it downstairs to the hall. “Let’s go.”

They approach the stairs carefully. Another one of the paper shiki comes back, this one is in a worse shape, but it still moves just fine. He needs to practice more, the paper dolls need to be stronger to be more useful.

Climbing up the stairs, the closer they get the stronger the youkai’s aura feels: it’s not overpowering, but still strong enough to cause some difficulties, even if there are two of them. Shuuichi wonders how it must feel for someone with no spiritual powers, do they feel it as some sort of pressure or stress?

“I believe the youkai feeds off fear,” Seiji whispers.

The classrooms they pass have their doors open, in one case it’s torn down off its hinges, two regular ones and a chemistry classroom, all of them empty save for the desks and chairs, at least what’s left of them.

The second they walk past the fourth room they hear a scream coming from the other end of the corridor. Shuuichi turns to Seiji.

“Have you felt the aura of a human ever since we came here?”

Seiji shakes his head, but he’s on high alert, only paying half attention to Shuuichi. “It can’t be a human, unless they disguised their presence so well neither of us noticed, but that’s quite unlikely.”

A youkai that can mimic humans is not a weak one. Certain parts of the report made more sense now, if it can shapeshift into a human that explains why it caused so many problems.

There’s a loud bang and another scream, this time coming from closer.

They spot a girl in the next classroom, she’s on the floor with a broken desk half on top of her, broken pieces of chairs scattered around her. This classroom is more worn down than the other they passed, with half of the windows shattered and the furniture broken. There is nothing about the girl that screams nonhuman, even her aura seems similar to a regular human’s.  _ Is it possible they were mistaken, and a civilian sneaked in? _

The original plan was to trick the youkai into following them to the entrance of the school building, but maybe they can turn its shapeshifting to their advantage.

Shuuichi steps closer to the girl—the  _ youkai _ disguised as a teenage girl. “Are you okay?” he asks, faking concern. Depending on how committed the youkai is to playing human, they can trick it to follow them right to the entrance hall.

“I think I twisted an ankle,” the youkai says. The schoolgirl-disguise is impeccable, no wonder regular high schoolers fall for it.

“Let us help,” Shuuichi says. He keeps an eye on the youkai as he lifts the desk out of the way. Even this close, the disguise remains perfect. He reaches out with one hand. “Can you stand?”

There’s a nervous giggle. “I think so, but thank you.”

“Where are your friends?” Shuuichi asks. Maybe if they pretend they think they’ve run into a human, it plays along. “They haven’t left you all alone in here, have they?”

“Oh no, no,” comes the reassurance, “they didn’t come with me.”

For a beat even Shuuichi believes it’s a regular high school girl who’s standing before him, dusting off her uniform skirt with her eyes averted. It sounds too human, it even  _ feels _ human, but a brief glance at Seiji reassures Shuuichi he is not wrong.

“This building is dangerous,” Seiji says. The youkai’s attention snaps to Seiji, as if it hasn’t even noticed he’s there. “You shouldn’t have come here alone.”

The youkai smiles, but doesn’t say anything.

“How’s the ankle?” Shuuichi asks.

The smile is frozen on its face for a split second. “It hurts less than I thought.”

“Let us escort you home,” Seiji offers. His sounds so gentle and earnest it’s eerie.

“My friend here is right.” Shuuichi tries not to wince at how he’s just referred to Seiji as his friend. “Let’s get you home.”

“I don’t think that’s—”

“You shouldn’t go home alone this late at night, injured.”

The girl-shape blurs for a couple of seconds, like the air right above a campfire.  _ It’s getting frustrated. _

“Okay, okay, I’ll go with you.”

Shuuichi doesn’t know what it is planning, but he and Seiji have to act quickly. They descend the stairs in silence, Shuuichi on the youkai’s right, Seiji on the left, right behind them.

Shuuichi can pinpoint the second the youkai spots the circle they’ve drawn on the floor: its eyes flare, and it starts losing its human form. Seiji pulls out a paper spell and activates a ward, trapping all of them in the hall. The youkai lashes out and breaks one row of lockers in two, almost hitting Shuuichi in the process. 

Seiji is right behind him, bow drawn and ready to shoot.  _ Perfect. _ The youkai is within firing range.

“Now!” Shuuichi shouts, and ducks.

The arrow hits it right in the chest, causing it to topple back down, right into the exorcism circle. They chant the spell together, and with a loud shizzle the youkai is sucked into the pot Seiji has brought with him.

“You’re still not going to tell me what kind of thing you’re raising in there, are you?” Shuuichi asks, shaking his head. Seiji just smiles, and says nothing.

Shuuichi calls back his remaining paper shiki as they erase the evidence of the ritual. After the paper dolls fold onto each other, Shuuichi grabs them right from the air, and pockets them. They’re unusable now but he doesn’t want Seiji to notice that.

“This was fun, don’t you think, Shuuichi-san?”

‘Fun’ is not how Shuuichi would describe his night, but it could have gone way worse. As they step out of the school building, exhaustion hits him. He yawns, and jams his hands into his pockets.

“I’ll write up a report tomorrow, if that’s alright with you,” Seji offers. Shuuichi nods.

He glances up to Seiji untying his hair tie, letting his hair fall down on his shoulders. There’s some dirt smeared on his cheek, visible under the dim street light. It’s the second time today Shuuichi thinks he looks like an average high school student. It’s not an unpleasant thought.

“Maybe we should team up more,” Seiji says, but Shuuichi knows he doesn’t actually mean it.

Shuuichi frowns. “Maybe not.”

Seiji laughs; a soft echo in the silence of the night.

“Goodnight, Shuuichi-san.”

Seiji slips away into the darkness before Shuuichi could say anything. He yawns again.  _ Time to go home. _


End file.
